The present disclosure relates generally to modular support systems for multi-story buildings. In particular, modular support systems that include a plurality of load-bearing structural units are described.
Known building support systems are not entirely satisfactory for the range of applications in which they are employed. Many buildings, for example, implement a concrete column-based support structure. Constructing buildings with concrete column-based support structures is inefficient. For example, constructing a building with a concrete column-based support system may require builders to iteratively pour the concrete structural elements of each floor individually.
In such a process, all of the structural work on a floor must be completed before any structural work can begin on a vertically adjacent floor. This iterative process often bottlenecks construction projects and delays progress.
Further, concrete column-based construction requires a large amount of work to be performed by on-site laborers. The large amount of on-site labor further increases costs and creates scheduling difficulties.
Constructing buildings with structural steel-based support systems are another conventional construction method, but structural steel-based methods do not adequately address many of the shortcomings of concrete-based methods. For example, structural steel drastically reduces the amount of concrete to be poured during construction. This decrease in labor, however, is offset by the need to individually weld a large number of structural steel elements. Indeed, structural steel supports often require builders to iteratively and labor-intensively construct each floor on site. Accordingly, conventional structural steel systems are often as labor intensive, expensive, and slow as conventional concrete-based projects.
Further, many buildings constructed with conventional structural steel-based support systems include irregular floor plans that require a variety of structural members to be used over the course of construction. At some times during production, stocks may be depleted due to one or more of delayed deliveries, depleted stocks, errors in ordering, or other causes of depleted supplies. Such shortfalls in supply may result in delays and additional labor costs.
Wood-based support systems address some of the shortcomings of conventional structural steel and concrete based support systems. For example, labor costs associated with some wood supported projects are dramatically reduced compared to structural steel and concrete supported projects. Further, wood-based support systems may, in some examples, be quicker and less labor-intensive to construct.
Many wood-based support systems, however are unable to adequately support multi-story buildings, particularly those that include more than two floors. Accordingly, wood-based support systems are only adequate for very small-scale construction projects and are inadequate for larger-scale projects including 3 or more floors. As a result, wood-based support systems are inadequate for larger-scale, multi-story applications. As a result, there exists a need for support systems that take advantage of the lower cost provided by wood-based support systems while supporting the multi-story structures that currently require steel or concrete-based support systems.
Thus, there exists a need for support systems that improve upon and advance the design of known support systems. In particular, there exists a need for support systems that are adequate to support larger-scale multi-floor projects that require less on-site labor than conventional concrete and/or structural steel-based projects. Examples of new and useful modular support systems relevant to these and other needs existing in the field are discussed below.